Waste material-removing apparatus

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR SCRAPING SLAG, METAL OR OTHER WASTE MATERIAL FROM THE MOUTH OF A BASIC OXYGEN FURNACE CONVERTER WHEN THE CONVERTER IS ROTATED DOWNWARDLY FROM AN UPRIGHT POSITION. THE APPARATUS HAS INDIVIDUALLY PIVOYED SCRAPERS WITH INDIVIDUAL SHEAR PINS, EACH PERMITTING THE RESPECTICE SCRAPER TO MOVE TO AN OUT-OF-THE-WAY POSITION WHEN OVERLOADED WITHOUT AFFECTING THE OPERATION OF THE OTHER SCRAPERS. THE SCRAPERS CAN PIVOT TO OUT-OF-THE-WAY POSITIONS WHEN THE CONVERTER IS MOVED BACK UP. THE FOREGOING ABSTRACT IS MERELY A RESUME OF ONE GENERAL APPLICATION, IS NOT A COMPLETE DISCUSSION OF ALL PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION OR APPLICATIONS, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUCTED AS A LIMITATION ON THE SCOPE OF THE CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER.

Sept. 20, 1971 QN, ETAL 3,605,157

WASTE IA'IERIAL-REMOVING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 25, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1

INVENTORS Mex 5v z. TI/OMPJ'OIV, J2, 07744441? 4. (0a), 4444 o. TAYLOR ay ,ftni,

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A 7' TOIME Y5 Sept. 20, 1971 H. E. THbMPsoN, JR E'l'AL 3,605,157

WASTE IATE RIAL-REMOVING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 25', 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet I LT l United States Patent O 3,605,157 WASTE MATERIAL-REMOVING APPARATUS Harvey E. Thompson, Jr., 9040 Newkirk Drive, Parma Heights, Ohio 44130; Otakar A. Kuby, 17533 Madison Ave., Lakewood, Ohio 44107; and Allan D. Taylor, 22486 Laramie Drive, Rocky River, Ohio 43458 Filed Aug. 25, 1969, Ser. No. 852,695 Int. Cl. C21c 5/46 US. Cl. -93 15 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for scraping slag, metal or other waste material from the mouth of a basic oxygen furnace converter when the converter is rotated downwardly from an upright position. The apparatus has individually pivoted scrapers with individual shear pins, each permitting the respective scraper to move to an out-of-the-way position when overloaded without atfecting the operation of the other scrapers. The scrapers can pivot to out-of-the-way positions when the converter is moved back up. The foregoing abstract is merely a rsum of one general application, is not a complete discussion of all principles of operation or applications, and is not to be construed as a limitation on the scope of the claimed subject matter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus for removing waste material from the mouth of a container and which is especially adapted for scraping slag, metal or the like from the mouth of a basic oxygen furnace converter.

In metal refining and melting processes, such as those which include use of a ladle, Bessemer converter or basic oxygen steel-making converter, waste material, such as slag or metal, accumulates on the mouth of the converter or other container. When the thickness of this waste material adhering to the mouth of the converter becomes excessive it must be removed. The present invention is directed to a novel and improved apparatus which is particularly well-suited for this purpose and which also may be used in other environments requiring the removal of waste material from the mouth of a container.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the apparatus has a plurality of independently mounted material-removing members, such as scrapers, each provided with overload release means which enables it to move to an out-of-the-way position if it encounters an overload condition and without affecting the operation of the other material-removing members which have not encountered an overload.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the material-removing members are movable to an out-of-the-way position when the relative movement between the container and the present apparatus is in a direction opposite to that in which the material-removing action is intended to take place.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide a novel and improved apparatus for removing waste material from the mouth of a container and which is especially adapted for use with a basic oxygen furnace converter.

Another object of this invention is to provide such an apparatus having a plurality of material-removing members, such as scrapers, which are positioned to remove waste material from adjacent portions of the container mouth, with each material-removing member being individually movable to an out-of-the-way position in case it encounters an overload.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel material-removing apparatus having a plurality of material-removing members, such as scrapers, which are movable individually to an out-of-the-Way position when engaged by waste material on the container month during relative movement between the container and the present apparatus opposite to the relative movement which produces the material-removing action.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention may be incorporated in apparatus for removing waste material adhering to the mouth of a container, said apparatus comprising an assembly of independently-mounted material-removing members positioned to engage and remove waste material from corresponding portions of the container mouth upon predetermined relative movement between the container and said assembly, and overload release means operatively associated individually with each of said members to permit the latter to move away from the container mouth when the force of its engagement with the waste material thereon exceeds a predetermined value.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a vertical section taken along the line 11 in FIG. 2 and a view showing the present waste materialremoving apparatus associated with a conventional basic oxygen furnace converter, which may be tilted from the upright phantom-line position down to and beyond the full-line position to move the mouth of the container past the scrapers in the present apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the FIG. 1 assembly;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view showing one of the individual scrapers in the present apparatus pivoted on its support, with the scraper shown in full lines in its operative, scraping position and shown in phantom in an out-of-the-way position to which it can move if it encounters an overload;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of this scraper; and

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of this scraper.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, the waste material-removing apparatus of the present invention is associated with a container in the form of a basic oxygen furnace converter 10 of known construction and mode of operation, the details of which need not be described for an adequate understanding of the present invention. In the use of this converter, waste material, such as slag, metal or the like, becomes adhered to the mouth 11 of the converter, especially during oxygen blowing and during pouring of metal from the container. When the accumulation of such Waste material becomes excessive, it must be removed. To effect this, the converter is rotated about a horizontal axis 12 from its normal upright position, shown in phantom lines, and oscillated or rotated to move its mouth 11 past the waste material-removing apparatus of the present invention.

This apparatus has a plurality of scraper members 13, only one of which appears in FIG. 1. From this figure it will be apparent that if the build-up of waste material on the mouth 11 of the converter at the location of this particular scraper member 13 exceeds a predetermined thickness, the movement of the converter mouth downwardly past this scraper member will cause the excessive waste material to be scraped oif by this scraper member.

The several scraper members 13 are identical to each other and in accordance with the present invention they are individually mounted on respective rigid supports 14 carried by a horizontal torsion member or tube 15 capable of withstanding a substantial torsional stress. The supports 14 are of different lengths, corresponding to their respective positions in the arcuate array since the circular mouth 11 of the converter will pass closer to the torsion tube 15 at the middle of this array than at either end. Except for having different individual lengths, the individual supports 14 for the scraper members are substantially identical to each other.

Referring now to FIG. 3, each support 14 includes a substantially rigid bracket 16 which is rigidly attached to the torsion tube 15 by a generally U-shaped strap 17. The upper and lower legs of this strap are welded to the bracket 16 and its bight portion is welded to the torsion tube 15. At its forward end, away from the torsion tube 15, each bracket presents an upwardly-facing recess or slot 18 having a rounded corner surface 19 at its front end which provides a fixed pivotal support for the respective scraper member 13, as explained hereinafter. Forward beyond this pivotal support surface the bracket presents an upwardly-extending finger 20 terminating in an upwardly and rearwardly inclined tip 21 which is spaced above and partially overlies the pivotal support surface 19. The different lengths of brackets 16 permit economy of manufacture of the scraper members 13 in that they may all be made identical for easy replacement if damaged or burned away.

Each scraper member 13 has a pair of laterally spaced plates 22, which extend parallel to and on opposite sides of the bracket member 16 of the respective support 14. A scraper tooth member 23 overlies these plates 22 toward their front ends. As best seen in FIG. 5, the scraper tooth 23 is T-shaped in cross-section, presenting a depending central leg 24 which is disposed between and bolted to the plates 22. The plates 22 carry a horizontal pivot pin 25 which rests on the pivotal support surface 19 of the respective fixed support 14. Also, the two plates 22 of the scraper member carry a laterally extending shear pin 26 which normally abuts against the upwardly inclined front edge 27 of the bracket 16 of the respective support 14.

With this arrangement, normally the center of gravity of each scraper member is forward of its pivot pin 25 and positions it as shown in full lines in FIG. 3, with its scraper tooth 23 facing upwardly and extending substantially horizontally with its shear pin 26 bearing against the front edge 27 of the respective support 14. The shear pin 26 is a yieldable means or restraining means restraining its scraper member 13 against downward pivotal movement (clockwise in FIGS. 1 and 3), but the scraper member is substantially freely movable pivotally in the opposite direction (counterclockwise in FIGS. 1 and 3).

As the converter 10 and torque tube 15 are relatively rotated in one direction, as by rotation of converter 10 to move its mouth 11 downwardly past the scraper members 13, any excessively thick waste material adhering to the converter mouth will strike the upwardly-facing tooth member 23 of the adjacent scraper member 13. The shear pin 26 of each scraper member will normally withstand the force of such engagement, so that the respective scraper member will remain positioned as shown in FIG. '1 to scrape off this excess waste material from the converter mouth.

However, if the force of the engagement of the waste material on the converter mouth against any particular scraper member 13 exceeds a predetermined safe value, the shear pin 26 on this scraper member will break, permitting this particular scraper member to pivot downwardly to the phantom line position in FIG. 3 where it is out of the way of the downwardly-moving mouth of the converter. This prevents damage to the scraper member 13 or the torsion tube 15. The thus-disabled scraper member is retained on its support 14- because of the continued engagement of its pivot pin 25 with the pivotal support surface 19 at the bottom of the slot 18 in the holder. It will be understood that such an overload usually will occur at only one or a few of the scraper members 13 at any one time, due to an unusually heavy or hardened accumulation of waste material on the converter mouth at that particular location or locations. Normally, the overload will not occur, and if it does, it will not occur at all of the scraper members 13 at any one time, and the majority of them will be maintained in their operative scraping positions by their respective shear pins.

In addition to the overload protection provided by the independently movable scrapers 13 and their individual shear pins 26, the present apparatus is advantageous in that scrapers 13 are substantially freely movable temporarily to an out-of-the-way position if struck by waste material on the mouth 11 of the converter as the latter is moving upwardly past the several scrapers. In such case, depending upon the point of engagement and the angle at which the force is applied, the scraper 13 may simply pivot counterclockwise in FIG. 3 upwardly from the full-line position. However, if the impact force has a large enough horizontal component, it may cause the shear pin 26 to break, thereby freeing the scraper for sliding movement of its pivot pin 25 from right to left in FIG. 3 along the bottom of the holder slot 18 to enable the entire scraper to slide to an out-of-the-way position.

Among the various structural modifications of the present apparatus which may be adopted without departing from the present teaching, it will be apparent that the overload release means for each scraper member may have a spring or spring-operated mechanism in place of the shear pin. For example, the shear pin may be replaced directly by an elastic or spring pin which will yield upon the application of an overload. Alternatively a more complex shape of spring wire may be used in place of the shear pin to achieve different overload release characteristics.

The present waste-removing material apparatus has a simple yet economical design which protects both the support structure of the scrapers 13 and the drive machinery of the container 10 from any damage during the cleaning operation. Also the design of this apparatus does not inhibit or interfere with rotation and other operation of the converter 10 during its normal functions and movements. The scraper members 13 being individually mounted effectively remove material accumulated from the mouth of the container and these various scraper members may be easily mounted on the rigid supports 14 in any desired combined shape including the arcuate shape shown in order to remove material accumulation from any type and shape of surface. The individual scrapers 13 are easily manufactured and they all may be identical for economy of initial cost. They may be readily individually replaced when worn or burned away without need to replace the entire group of scrapers. Each scraper tooth 23 may easily be designed for cleaning a particular type or shape of surface but as shown all these scrapers 13 are interchangeable for use at any one of the locations along the tube 15. Also, the supporting structure for the scrapers permits the tooth or scraper to serve as a clearance gauge should the practical application call for such use. The simplicity of the entire apparatus consisting of only few components permits maintenance by unskilled labor.

The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims, as well as that of the foregoing description. Athough this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope or the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for removing waste material adhering to the mouth of a container, said apparatus comprising an assembly of independently-mounted material-remov ing members positioned to engage and remove waste material from corresponding portions of the container mouth upon predetermined relative movement between the containera'nd said assembly, a substantially rigid support for said material-removing members, and overload release means operatively associated individually with each of said members and comprising a shear pin acting between said support and each of said members to permit the latter to move away from the container mouth when the force of its engagement with the waste material thereon exceeds a predetermined value.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said material-removing members are movable away from the container mouth when engaged by waste material on the container mouth during relative movement between the container and said members in the opposite direction.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said material-removing members are pivotally supported, and said overload release means restrains each of said members against pivotal movement in one direction when engaged by the waste material on the container mouth.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said material-removing members are substantially freely movable pivotally in the opposite direction.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3, and further comprising a substantially rigid support for each of said material-removing members.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said material-removing members are substantially freely movable pivotally in the opposite direction.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said overload release means comprises a shear pin acting between eachof said members and the respective support.

8. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each of said supports has a slot which is inclined downwardly and forwardly toward the respective material-removing member and terminates at its forward end in an upwardlyfacing rounded pivotal support surface, and each of said material-removing members has a pivot pin which normally seats on said pivotal support surface in the respective support.

9. Apparatus for removing waste material adhering to the mouth of a container, said apparatus comprising a plurality of separately movable material-removing members positioned to engage and remove waste material from the container mouth upon predetermined relative movement between the container and said members, and support means supporting said members for movement away from the container mouth upon relative movement between the container and said members in the opposite direction.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said material-removing members are pivotally mounted on said support means, and further comprising restraining means acting between said members and said support means to restrain said members against pivotal movement with respect to said support means during said predetermined relative movement between the container and said mem-- bers.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said members are individually and separately pivoted on said support means.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said restraining means comprises a shear pin acting between each of said members and said support means to restrain the respective member against pivotal movement with respect to said support means during said predetermined relative movement between the container and said members.

13. Apparatus for removing waste material adhering to the mouth of a molten metal converter which is pivot-p able downwardly about a horizontal axis from an upright position, said apparatus comprising a substantially horizontal torque-sustaining member, a plurality of rigid supports attached to said torque-sustaining member at successive locations along its length, and a plurality of scrapers pivoted individually to said supports and positioned in an arcuate horizontally-disposed array extending substantially parallel to and in close proximity to the path of downward movement of the converter mouth when the converter is pivoted downwardly, each of said scrapers having a scraper tooth for engagement with waste material on the converter mouth, and a shear pin acting between each scraper and the respective support to normally position the respective scraper tooth substantially horizontally and disposed away from the pivot for said scraper in a direction toward the path of downward travel of the converter month, said shear pins being yieldable to permit the respective scraper tooth to pivot downwardly away from the path of downward travel of the converter mouth when said scraper tooth encounters an overload.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein each of said supports has a slot which is inclined downwardly and forwardly toward the respective scraper and terminates at its forward end in an upwardly-facing rounded pivotal support surface, and each of said scrapers has a pivot pin which normally seats on said pivotal support surface in the respective support.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each of said supports has a front surface disposed below its slot and inclined upwardly and forwardly toward the respectively scraper, and said shear pin is carried by the respective scraper and disposed below the pivot pin of the respective scraper and bearing against said inclined front surface on the respective support.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,813,285 11/1957 Aslin et al. 15-10404 3,335,445 8/1967 Kinzler 15-93R LEON G. MACHLIN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 266-36 

